A Deadly Combination
by Rupanshi5
Summary: Completely AU. What if Rick and Kate were about the similar age and had met at college? What if they held the same chemistry they constantly fought? What if Bracken didn't want to wait 10yrs before trying to eliminate a loose end. What happens when Rick's and Kate's paths collide 10yrs later. [Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Lost and Fringe fans will notice crossovers and similllarities]
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is completely AU. I was suffering a writer's block over Raining Bullets and then was inspired by coyotepup4's Sideways. (Must Read). This is 10 years after Johanna's murder and an attempted murder of Kate Beckett. The AU starts with Rick and Kate being best of friends from high school and then at Stanford. The follow up of Kate's shooting is very much like Knockout. He confesses his love, she wakes up and kicks him out. Ten years later, Rick is a successful author but also a Level 9 Commander of S.H.I.E.L.D. at its american base. What happens when a ten year old case is reopened? **

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She pinched the bridge of her nose and stared into thin air, looking nowhere in particular. Somewhere very deep in thought. It was obvious wasn't it? Ten years. It had been ten years since he had disappeared, and now he just turns up? Like nothing happened? Like he didn't just disappear? Run off to another continent and turn his life around?

What was she even doing here? She finally looked. Really looked at the room she sat in. The room was a blur of dark wood and leathers in olive green, royal blue and hints of burgundy, the black dark brown-almost black matting of the floor completing the look. The first thing that hit her was, this wasns office from this point of view looked more like a state of the art technology infused room belonging to a futuristic special op. Something is with a lot of connecting lines, certificates and trophies, moments of celebration. She knew that the particular wall she looked at slid into their alcoves for when she pressed the right button on it, she had a gazillion problems, getting out of Richard Castle's office wasn't one of them. She knew her way out as she had known her way in.

Her eyes looked down at the table to look what this side of the table hid. Needless to say, she was speechless. Apart from the leg space which hid another laptop, an audio recorder and a surveillance camera, the table held a glass cabinet encasing its owner's much loved bottles of Alcohol in all shapes and sizes, a knife, a gun that resembled a Walther but seemed custom made to accommodate his unusually long fingers, a drawer which on opening, held 3 bundles of 100$ notes, and a bundle of dozen or so passports. She didn't count, her eyes continued to travel. The master chair's arm held a pad, the kind used to analyze a handprint, but overall she knew the table and the chair were wired. She didn't know what would pressing any one of the buttons she had strictly kept her eyes off, result in.

It had started to hit her, that the Richard Castle this office belonged to, was not a 9yr old on a sugar rush. So, assuming anything based on past knowledge, including his coffee which unlike his past favorite vanilla latte, lay black in his cup, would be dangerous.

What happened to the 20yr old boy begging her to stay alive while he cupped his hands over her heart to keep it from bleeding out? What happened to the man who told her he loved her? Who was she kidding, her insecurities had happened. She had spent the past ten years calling him a coward and a runner, blaming him for her mistakes just so that she didn't have to deal with the emotional crash.

She now stood and stared at the heavily wired and armed room, dangerously serious and dark as tears collected under her ducts, rimming her eyes red as she blinked them away. This was not a time to play the blame game. She had been interrupted mid investigation by the Scotland Yard Agent, Agent Hunt, telling her that, her presence was requested by Richard Castle.

Unnecessary to say, she followed. Not because he asked, not because Captain Montgomery ordered her to, but because she was curious, shocked and surprised. Curious because once you repeat a lie to yourself continuously over a period of time, u convince your mind that it is the truth and thus your brain tries to process the question 'why does he want to talk to me now after he ran away ten years ago?'. Because a Scotland Yard Agent had come to receive her. Because he knew exactly where to find her. Because he had been away for ten years and she wanted to know where had he been. Surprised because she still remembered the last time they spoke: she was on the hospital bed, alive, but broken and she harshly asked him to leave. Because she remembered the heartbroken boy that left that day, because she remembered the broken agony in the boy's voice. She broke his heart, why would he ever want to have anything to do with her? Because he still loves you .No, that was purely wishful thinking. But a girl can dream, can't she?

She silently walked back to the chair she had earlier sat in. She wouldn't want to be caught snooping in his office by him. They weren't sophomores at Stanford fighting over who gets to keep Royal the dog. She is Detective Katherine Houghton Beckett, and he is Richard Alexander Rodgers, no, he is Richard Edgar Alexander Rodgers Castle.

Just as she completed her thoughts, A slight hum filled the room and the wall behind her slid to open, allowing a small dark arch to open. She automatically turned to take in the man that now stood in the room. He was 6ft 4inches tall, well trained arm muscles ripping through his white shirt, whose cuffs were loosely rolled up all the way to his elbows, the way he stood indicated just as well built muscles of his chest, hidden by the same white shirt. Accompanying his shirt, was a brown shoulder leather holster, holding two identical Glocks and a black knife, along with a set of black dress pants and dress shoes. His blue eyes seemed to look into hers, locked in the hazel ones for a moment too long before he walked around the table to take the Master chair. He looks so much more serious, but yummier too...-shut up Kate, focus, why does Ricky have guns and knives?

She was pulled back from her thoughts as his deep voice filled the silent still room. "Hello Miss Beckett" she looked at his ruggedly handsome face, unlike the last time she had seen it, this one showed no expression, only a stone wall, letting out nothing, the formal tone of his voice had struck her, but so had the faint british accent, very different from the one he used to fake. No, this accent sounded closer to the one used by Agent Hunt. She smiled, it wasn't hard to smile when she meets an old friend right? An old friend who loved you until you kicked him away cause of your insecurities Kate.

"Hello Rick"

"I hope your journey here wasn't inconvenient ?"

His cold non emotional tone was making her nerves twitch, maybe it was just how different he was from the person he used to be. It angered her, though she knew she was partly responsible for it, her next few words flew out "inconvenient? What the hell is going on Rick?-Detective Beckett, we are here on professional terms only. Your assistance is demanded for an ongoing investigation. If you open the file in front of you, and flip to page number 32, you will see you have signed the contract under the NYPD forms to follow your Captain

Rick handed her his badge, pulling out of his shirt pocket. Not missing a beat "Commander Rodgers"

Kate's eyes shot up as she momentarily studied the badge, an eagle head with wings in pure silver with a black background took 1/3rd of the badge towards the left, the remainder of it was also black except with a grey header reading 'Commander Rodgers', a picture of him stood towards the far right, with his date of birth, badge number gender and signature taking up the center. She didn't necessarily remember what the badge stood for but she had seen it earlier with Agent Collin Hunt and Captain Montgomery had approved of it.

Deciding she approved of his badge. He continued. "All information is on a need to know basis. You will follow Collin once he shows up. He will debrief you to the point necessary then direct you to your desk where you will be allowed to go over the required files and provide your analysis/interpretation of them. You may also provide all previous information pertaining to the case that we might be missing-".

Now Kate was furious. She burst with all her previous words and new ones all at once.

"-What the hell Rick, I haven't seen you in like 10yrs since that day at the hospital and then u suddenly turn up today 'requesting my presence' and what use is that anyways, you call me here then ask your british friend to escort me" and by the time she could stop herself it was already too late so she just continued "-sending your dear British friend to escort me to some secret location I wasn't even allowed to figure out. And now you have this weird accent all lined up and you're behaving like we're meeting for the first time and what the hell is it with 'Miss Beckett' whatever happened to Kate or Katie or Beckz or Katerbug? And why do u have all these guns and knives and ugh Rick why are you here, it's been so long why now?"

Before Rick could reply, someone chuckled from the entrance which had been left open. "My my Rick she really is a bursting volcano brother, very different from the one case we solved together" with that both men erupted into laughter but Kate stood there shaking with rage "what the hell is going on here?! I will call the cops saying I've been taken hostage if I don't get a reply this instant" this just made the two laugh harder and though she was furious she had to agree that sounded stupid, she was a cop, and technically she had been ordered to go there by her captain.

She picked the easier of the two men: Rick, and glared at him, if there was one thing that hadn't changed in ten years, it was his reaction to the glare, he immediately shut up and looked like he's a little kid caught with a jar of cookies. Following his example, Collin, who had walked and taken the seat next to her stopped laughing as well. She used a moment to look up the British agent she had first met only a few months ago, the tall blonde well built male sat wearing a black tuxedo and a red bow tie as if he were getting ready for a formal event of some sort. What hit her in that moment was, that how the two men were so much at ease around each other.

"We'll start with your debriefing Detective Beckett" He said after sobering down.

"The S.H.I.E.L.D. or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division-" "S.H.I.E.L.D.? Really Rick? this is about some crazed comic book fetish you've been harboring the past ten years?" She cut Hunt off cold, mid sentence. He took a minute to gather his composure as if he wanted to laugh really loud but then continued "-was announced as one of the first departments that was put together with the joint efforts of the American, British and Eurozone systems. You are currently sitting in the office of its American Commander, Richard Alexander Rodgers and hidden office of Best Selling Author Richard Castle.-" "Yea Yea Yea and Yea, still don't see why Captain Montgomery asked me to do as asked by you Agent Hunt, and don't make that face Rick, I mean, I'm proud of you and all of that, but what has this got to do with me? I understand I have been asked to assist you on a case. But you have to give me details. Why so special. Why me?"

Rick seemed hurt, but she wouldn't let him off that easy. Using his contacts to pull her out mid investigation was not cool.

"Patience Detective Beckett" his deep voice filled the room again. "Your presence here has nothing to do with me being the Commander. In fact I was completely against the idea of pulling you in this one. Sadly, I got out voted. It may have to do with an old promise. But, getting back to professionalism, ten years ago on January 9th, Mrs. Johanna Dawson-Beckett was killed in cold blood, followed by three similar murders and an attempted attack at you, Ms. Katherine Houghton Beckett. Reason you were brought here was because these cases were re-opened six months ago due to similar murders/attacks occurring with the same M.O." He paused letting it sink in for her, unlike Kate, he had done his research on her. She was sure of it. A glass of whiskey slid across the table for her and wordlessly she picked it up and took a rather large gulp. She needed to digest the information just provided to her, up until the 'SHIELD' bit, she thought it was some joke her former best friend and Agent Hunt were playing on her, probably payback for ditching Hunt on that date. _He even knows what whiskey I drink! _

After what seemed like hours but was probably a few minutes she was shocked to hear her own voice cut through the silence. She sounded heavy as if she were crying "Why now?" _Am I crying? _Hastily she wiped her tears away and finished rest of her whiskey in another gulp. She tried to concentrate on Rick's face, from his expression it looked like she had hit the very core reason of the meeting. And, looking at his expression, something told her she is going to regret it, and regret that question she did as a myriad of expressions overcame her face while Richard replied.

"You remember the last time we met Kate?"

"Yes, we were at the hospital, I had just woken up… I-"

"Yes, you asked me to leave and told me you didn't want to see me again. Ignoring that bit, do you remember what I told you before I left?"

"You will remember my words. That you will bring justice to my mom, that you will be my Castle and protect me, that I didn't need to see you for you to protect me…." as she spoke these words, the clockworks creakingly started to run in her brain, event after event clicking into place, suddenly his actions and the current situation were starting to make sense. He gave her a minute to catch up before he continued his 'confession' or 'explanation'.

"And I meant it Kate. I finished my education and changed my name while using my alias to keep a check on you. I joined S.H.I.E.L.D. so that I could keep my promise. It's been ten years Kate and I'm still sticking to my promise, in fact I apologize for bringing you here, I know you don't want to see me, but in the past 1 year alone I have put 11 different men sent to harm you, down. He just won't stop. It was getting too hard to keep you safe without your co-oper-" Though she knew she should be thankful she was enraged, the way he spoke made it clear he knew who had ordered her mother's death, who had sent Coonan, and Lockwood.

"Yes, my life Rick, MY LIFE, not yours, I'm not the damsel in distress from your books who needs a knight in shining armor to save her!, I can take care of myself pretty well! And while you have been playing cop and sitting on leads I NEED, I have been taking care of myself. Don't try and justify your disappearance by telling me you were keeping your prom-" Now it was his chance to get frustrated

"You're the one that asked me to leave Kate! I saw you die in that ambulance, thrice, you died thrice. You were gone, all life drained out of you. You were bleeding out Kate, and I was helpless. And then, you disappeared, and when you came back you were all over that biker boy, and I was invisible to you, but I still stayed to keep my promise, I tolerated you throwing yourself at shallow guys in your depression or hysteria. I was there every night in the burner room pulling away any guy who tried to get his hands on you inappropriately. I was there knocking spiked drinks out of your hand while you weren't looking, I was there when you got in a mess with Quinn, that Westies prince guy. So you don't fucking dare tell me that I don't care."

She had tears in her eyes again, ones that had been unshed past years, ones that were longing for him, missing him so much. How could she have been so blind? "Why Rick?" she said between sobs, a mere whisper, but he heard her.

"Because I l…. I care, but we are deviating from the topic, I climbed my way up the ladder and now this case has been re-opened due to the new murders, consider this an invitation to join S.H.I.E.L.D." Her eyes widened, she was being invited to join an international organization, that brought justice to people, both living and dead, on a much larger platform than NYPD.

_But how will I deal meeting Rick everyday. There__'__s a reason he__'__s on page six everyday, apparently being a SHIELD Commander doesn't stop him from having his dose of fun, or was the fun to hide the Commander in him? Even through the pages say, he__'__s a womanizer. No, that__'__s not my Rick, my Rick cares. Shut up Kate, he has changed; he is not your Rick anymore. Anymore? Was he ever my Rick? No, but he wanted to be, and I kicked him out. You broke him into this dark stone wall of a man he has become. No, I didn__'__t do this; those were his very own choices to make. _

Rick and Hunt had seemed to understand her need for space and had moved to their own conversation. She could see they were both close. 'Brother' that's how they referred to each other. Oh how much had she missed out on? As if on cue, a young blonde woman walked in, unlike the two men, she looked like she had just woken up and then to Kate's utmost shock, went and sat in Rick's lap, but Rick didn't seem to even notice the woman, nor did he react to the sudden move, as if it were the most normal thing to him. After finishing his conversation with Hunt he seemed to realize the young woman's presence and nodded to her. "Morning Serena, did the take off wake you up?" _Who__'__s Serena? Why does she look so familiar? Why is she in Rick__'__s lap? take off? where exactly are we?_

"Yes Ricky, I think your age is taking a toll over your abilities.-" She noticed that Serena's attention suddenly flickered to her and Hunt "-damn brother, you little sly bastard! She is The Katherine? The Katherine he conf-, I mean, I thought you told me your name was Kate?"

Kate narrowed her eyes at the woman, something about her catlike stance, the way she seemed to not even try and hide her displeasure at the site of Kate, and the fact that she seemed to know her got Kate confused and suspicious. She knew her and certainly didn't like her. Oh the feelings were mutual. But where had she seen her? It was obvious from her reaction that Rick had told them about their ending. She knew how that sentence was going to end. She had seen it every night on playback ever since. She shook her head trying to clear the mist and concentrate on finer details.

The word 'brother' hit her once again. OK. Serena is another sister to him? Before she knew it, words flew out of her lips. "You're his sister or some sister in law-?" She only took a second to realize and was soon apologizing. "-I'm sorry, it's just, Rick, I didn't know you had any siblings?"

Rick looked at Hunt, then at Serena and started laughing. A minute later he found himself some composure and continued. "Oh where are my manners, Kate, meet Agents Hunt and Kaye-" Realization finally dawned on Kate. Kaye… Serena Kaye, the ex-thief/ multimillion dollar art curator and insurer."-yes they are my siblings, but not in the way you're imagining, that's a story for another time however." The '_if there is another time__'__, _was silently communicated between the two of them.

Kate nodded and went back to problem one. "Rick, I appreciate you trying to solve my mother's murder, and I appreciate your invitation, however I know nothing about SHIELD and I have a thousand queries. Frankly speaking I need a day or more to digest this. It's like a dam burst of information at once. I'd like to go home now and spend a day or two to think about it before I can come up with a sound reply that I can stick to without regret"

She saw a silent communication between the three siblings but decided not to probe on it. She had no right to. She felt like an outsider here. Like a guest. Still, she kept her eyes trained on Rick's. His reply was cold but she expected and deserved it. She had walked right into this one.

"A day or more like last time Detective Beckett?" _agh, he__'__s back to square one with the detective thing! Hellloooooo I'm Katie! Your goddamnfucking Katerbug!_

_"_Rick, there's no need to be cold. I mean it, it's a big offer, i feel like I'm jumping from the plains to the tip of a mountain. Plus, considering our last meeting, the way things have evidently changed since then. All this information about you, its a little too much to take in at once. I mean come on the Rick I knew hated the system, and just wanted to learn profiling so he could be the creepy guy at a cafe. The Rick I see in front of me is the Commander of SHIELD and a successful mystery writer. Also, you're suddenly bringing up my mom's case. This was shut down and put way below the seabed ten years ago."

She sighed knowing she was crying again. Serena had somehow got around her and had found her way on the table next to Kate with a box of tissues, out of which, one Kate accepted thankfully and wiped her tears. The younger woman's voice cut through her ears "Believe me when I say, we know your pain."

"Commander, the District Attorney is on hold, he would like to discuss the recent development." A voice interrupted the conversation. All heads shot towards the arch, where a man in a grey suite stood at attention, his posture easily giving away his extensive army training. _Seal perhaps__…__ or the marine__'__s maybe?_

"Pass that call to Lucy, I'm busy, you know she handles Andrew, best."

"She is currently on site at Verbier Sir. No form of communication available to her."

"Ok" With that Rick picked the call up as Kate looked at him. Seeing the look that Rick and Serena exchanged, she knew this was going to be a private conversation and so, didn't resist when she was helped up by Serena and the two walked out of the arch way leaving Hunt and Rick to their conversation with the District Attorney. Any thoughts she had in her mind while in the office were blown away the moment she stepped out into what must be the... SHIELD's equivalent for a bullpen…


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: **So Chapter 2 is up! ****Forgive me if this one got too sci-fi/supernatural, I spent the entire day watching Marvel based movies out of boredom with my bestfriend. Reviews are love! Please do tell me what you think of it! and how I may be able to improve it! Also I think I've already crossed the 10,000 word line in 2 chapters... yay me! **

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Any thoughts she had in her mind while in the office were blown away the moment she stepped out into what must be the... SHIELD's equivalent for a bullpen and command center…

The room, rather area she now stood in reminded her very much of the insides of a modern skyscraper. Completely done in grey black and electric blue, the area reminded her so much of the movie. _Rick and his Marvel obsession… _She was pretty sure that either she was drugged with high quantities of LSD thus making her feel like Alice in Wonderland, Marvel version. Or, she was going to need a high dosage of something equally strong to snap her out of it. She turned around to see the wall behind her, only now realizing that it was a black metal wall holding the proud eagle symbol followed by two stories of glass that seemed to encase the labs. The ground floor, that's what she decided to call it, was itself distributed between three levels of platforms. Filled with desks that held something that she decided were holographic screens of different sizes. Each littered with something different yet to her they all looked the same. The center of the 'ground floor' held a huge control panel and yet another holographic screen. Just before which, stood an equally large table, though it looked suspiciously hollow. The side walls, all held doors, their destination, the Detective couldn't imagine. On the upper stories was more glass, however she knew these were each either rooms or labs, or passage ways. Unlike the simple four walls of an office, she was greeted by a huge panorama wall of glass screens on the front wall, showing a clear sky ahead.

Though she didn't pay attention earlier, she could now see the agents, all dressed in identical navy blue-black bodysuits with a few exceptions of researchers in lab coats and men/women in silver suits as well. One thing common between all of them was the Eagle symbol that was on their arms, a couple shades darker than the color of their suit.

"Wow" Kate whispered under her breath and Serena just grinned, used to it by now. "You see the glass cased room right above Rick's? That's the Lab. I have some work there, care to join me?" Kate nods and follows having no option. Well the option being, get lost over here or be with the one person who knows her way around the place.

Serena smiles and leads the way, taking a side door she walks down a bridge then takes a lift up. Once on the wanted floor, she walks past a number of corridors, each lined with doors, and they finally reach the lab. _This beast would put Lanie's Morgue and the Stanford lab, collectively, to shame. _

The Lab was glass encased on opposite walls, while the remaining two were grey. It seemed to home 10 or 12 Scientists of all ages and a myriad of all things science under the sun. Two of the younger scientists, a guy with curly copper hair and a blonde woman, seemed to notice them enter and came forward to greet.

"Sup Kaye, need some of that truth serum again?"

"Ha-ha Fitz, no I just came to check on that gun, how is its development going?"

"Oh we worked on its bullets, piercing quality, would you both like to give it a try? We made two prototypes" The blonde woman spoke up as she noticed Kate looking at her. "Oh, I'm Jemma Simmens and this is Leopold Fitz"

Serena looked at Kate to ask if she would like to join, seeing the anger behind those forest-like hazel eyes she shivered and pitied her brother for what was to come. This woman definitely needed to let off some steam. Without another word, the four proceeded to the scientific makeshift shooting range. Two identical black-steel grey guns rested on the table infront of the two women. Before Kate could voice her thoughts, Fitz answered the un-voiced question. "It's safe Detective Beckett, yes I know who you are, and no you do not need anything to block the noise for now, they are completely silent."

Kate assessed the possible weapon with her eyes as taught by her mentor, Royce. She then proceeded to run her fingers around the steel, which was surprisingly warm, moving ahead, she proceeded to pick the weapon up in a quick second, judging its weight, it was off by an ounce too much but she wouldn't voice it unless asked. She looked at the two geniuses standing next to her and smiled at them, marveling the expanse of their skill and brains. She noticed Serena nod at her, and suddenly the two were aiming at the cardboard cutouts infront of them. Two long seconds later, their guns shot out a bullet each in co-ordination. The following event, shocked Kate; the bullet not only hit at the center point but also exploded into barely visible shrapnel which looked suspiciously hot, like coal over fire. She looked at the other three grinning and realized they had achieved what they wanted.

"So Detective, critique?"

"The gun maybe off by an ounce at most, but that may be because I'm too used to mine"

"Thought you guys promised a color re-agent" Serena added in, the playful hint evident in her tone.

"Yes, yes, ofcourse Agent Kaye, we know how much cosmetics matter to you" Fitz stuck his tongue out. Then Jemma smiled. "Detective, why don't you try a couple more shots, you look like you have some steam to blow off" She nodded and almost immediately turned around, glared at the cardboard before shooting hey gun empty.

Serena stared at the woman, awestruck by her coping mechanism and strength, but then regained her composure and played her next question. "So Detective, the three of us here were trying to figure out which color would do best. I'd be awfully delighted if you could help me with something to piss Rick off, ofcourse, with him, we'd use a harmless version."

Kate laughed, really laughed. She knew just what they needed and shook her head. "For a weapon, I'll be bias and say purple, I love the color, and it has the added effect of confusing bystanders/spectators for poisoning or terrible bruising. For Rick, he loves the color too much, you should try grey with him, and he's always had that nightmare about _The Rise of the Machines_."

The three blinked at her, either she really didn't know Richard Castle, or he hid pretty well. "Rick... scared… of anything?" Serena barely made sense with her words between fits of laughter.

Kate suddenly remembered. Her face literally fell. "True, ten years ago he would hide at the site of a gun. Today he carries a minimum of two. Things really have changed... Serena, I know we started off on wrong terms with all the accusations and un-warranted searching but could I please ask you, what is he like?"

"Detective Beckett, I first met him 8 years ago when he and Col. rented my uncle's apartment in London. Ever since I've known him, I've seen a man who guards himself better than an entire army. I've seen a man right out of a Tom Cruise Movie: Fearless, Relentless, Unmistakably dark, Ruthless, Strong but most of all, Heartless. The Richard you speak about is an alien to us. Well Collin might know, the two are inseparable like twins, ever since birth."

"The Ricky I knew was almost metro-sexual" she says so softly under her breath that, only Serena hears her.

Suddenly an old memory of a little blonde guy hanging around at Rick's a couple times hit her. Ofcourse she'd met Collin before, but never really knew him.

"Serena, the Rick I knew, would scream like a girl if he saw a spider..." This had Fitz laughing till he had doubled up on the floor and was rolling

"Pl... Please repeat that, hell, this is too funny"

Oh yes she could have her payback little by little. Oh she felt like such a sadist.

"Back in Stanford, it was Halloween, I felt it was time to scare the entire neighborhood, so I grabbed Ethan's pet tarantula and snuck it on Rick's chest while he was asleep. It took the spider a minute to wake the man-child of a sleeper awake and shriek the entire neighborhood up at 3 AM, whatever was asleep of it anyways."

By now a couple other researchers had joined Fitz, Simmens and Serena in their uncontrolled laughter, then something happened and suddenly everyone went steel faced looking at a single point behind her. She spun around to Rick standing right behind her, arms folded. _Uh-oh, am I supposed to be in trouble? _

"You just got here hours ago, and you're already telling on me? Damn Kate. This some sort of payback?"

After a long silence that had followed, Rick cracked into a smile and then into a laugh before catching his breath, taking in the Detective with his eyes all over again. His laughter cutting out the tension as the others went back to laughing again.

"And that spider… I was not scared… It was just unexpected"

"Oh. What about the time we snuck into the Tiger's cage and then got locked in? You couldn't look at a tiger till two years after that."

"You say that like you played Captain America in the cage." He tried to defend himself "Heelllllppppp. Saaaaveeee us, we got locked with tha tigerrrr" he tried his best to imitate her screaming and the room was rolling with laughter and shock all over again, each person witnessing the banter between the two couldn't help but reminded of a really old couple very much in love. But Kate and Rick were too busy in their own bubble to notice the room. When the sound of laughter finally broke through the bubble the first thing that she noticed was that, though everyone was laughing they seemed almost too scared to laugh. As if it were an unspoken law to never laugh around Rick. _Oh Ricky, what happened to the clown I fell in l…NO I won't think it. _She was determined to reveal the other side that Rick hid.

"Oh Rick, you're on, guys, did you know, your boss was once scared of machines… there was this time at camp-" She continued with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "-he was asleep and mumbling stuff about getting attacked by machines. Since the camp was anyways a filming project, we had our recorder with us, in fact, we even used it for our final project. I should show it to you people sometime-" she went on, without even realizing what she was promising "- I bet you would love to see this man-child squirming at the sight of a helicopter model". She smirked as she completed her sentence. She didn't even know their names yet she already felt at home here.

"Oh Kate, but you forgot to tell them the time when I drank you and Madison under the table and-"

"Oh Rick will you never let me forget? And you only drank us under the table because you cheated!"

"-you mean, never stop reminding you a night you can't remember, and anyways, don't worry I won't tell them the whole story, but my dear spectators, please be warned, if Detective Beckett here does decide to take me on my offer to join S.H.I.E.L.D, or if any of you do end up sharing a drink with her, please please please, KEEP THE VODKA AWAY FROM HER"

Kate rolled her eyes.

"Rick, you say that like I can't handle my Vodka. Need I remind…"

"Oh no, no, the problem dear Kiev-seasoned Lady, is that you handle it too well." Suddenly Kate heard her stomach grumble and she rolled her eyes. Lucky her, everyone else, except Rick was too busy laughing or surprised by this other side to him. He ushered Kate out and back to his study. She noticed that the sound of laughter had caused many of the agents outside to enter the lab as well. This time, he walked further, pushing open a door she had missed in the far wall, silently asking her to walk in before he followed her. She seemed to have walked right into his house.

"It's been hours and hours since your last meal Kate, let's get you something to eat and then we can catch up." He maneuvered his way around the Kitchen island counters as he began to finish up something he had already had semi prepared. There seemed to be a pause as Kate looked at him. He had frozen in spot. Experience told her, he was thinking very hard about something.

"Rick?"

"Mm-mh yeah, er- Kate do you still like Pasta Bolognese?"

"Of course, not everyone changes you know?"

"Changing and Protecting are two very different things Detective. But, I only asked because you have changed."

"Protecting? Who? What from? Oh _Castle… _What have you done?"

"You asked me to leave Katherine, so I left"

"I didn't ask you to stop fucking laughing, I didn't ask you to join law enforcement, I didn't ask you to center your life on mine. I definitely didn't ask you to change who you were." She said, suddenly all her anger was back. He can't put this on her.

"To repeat myself, I have only protected myself from being… what I mean to say is, I have only formed… And what's with you suddenly calling me Castle, not that I mind… It sounds nice, the way you say it" _Oh the bastard, he's changing the topic, well two can play the game Ricky._

"So Castle, why change your name?"

"SHIELD"

He shrugged her off easily. Oh… oh! He expected that question.

Well here's something he probably didn't expect, she's observant and smart. She's a sucker for detail.

"Your badge says Richard A. Rodgers, not Richard E. Castle"

"Cover"

"And that means?"

"Kate, before the last few hours, did you know about the existence of SHIELD?" he said with what looked like an evident sigh to Kate. _Ok maybe I'm not all that smart._

"No" _Oh! His cover since he's a SHIELD Agent. Wait… Collin… Serena… the uniforms, ALL lived two lives? Of course, Collin Hunt was supposed to be a Scotland Yard Detective and Serena Kaye was supposed to be an employee of an Art Insurance firm. This makes sense… I wonder what Ryan would think of his ex- interest being a highly qualified SHIELD Agent instead of the thief we had all suspected her to be. _

"Am I publicly linked with law enforcement?"

She saw the look of mock surprise ghost over his features as her following sentence proceeded.

"You mean apart from the police horse you stole-"

He cut her in between

"Borrowed"

"Naked"

"Boys will be boys"

"Oh, and the murder of Alison Tisdale, I had that case first you know, the FEDs walked in before the first few pictures even got to the murder board."

"It was actually SHEILD, Agent Peterson and Agent Young"

Kate was shocked for a moment as she took in the new information.

"Well… finding your connection to the murder was my doing… A question that has been eating me since, Did you… did you kill her… along with the two others?" She bit into her lip. _Oh god! Please just say you didn't!_

"No Kate, I was being framed by her brother."

"You… framed… why?" It seemed like the most logical question until it left her lips. Then she just felt stupid.

"The Tisdales know of SHIELD existence, they were contacted for the building of this fine piece of architecture and the Academy of Science."

"So he was framing Captain Richard Rodgers?"

"Yes"

"Still doesn't tell me why"

"Classified Information"

An uneasy silence fell between them while Rick finished his work on the pasta. She really was hungry, so found herself, perching her ass up on a barstool and watching him while he moved around his kitchen at ease. She watched his movements as he laid the pasta in plates and slid her forks and spoons. He then dipped down- and she swore she wasn't checking his ass out- to open the Wine Cabinet and look up at her expectantly,

"Would you like White or Red?"

"Red"

He opened a bottle of wine and she watched the blood like liquid fill the glasses and then a glass came sliding her way. She took a sip and instantly loved it. _I'm going to have to go slow on this wine or I'll be off my feet within the hour. _She picked up her fork and focused on the pasta instead and decided to quiz him more while she was in between bites.

"Catch up time hmm… twenty questions?"

"Sure"

"Why Castle?"

"hmm?"

"Why choose the name Castle?"

"Fits me according to Serena, Collin, Aqilina and Alyosha"

"Aqilina and Alyosha… Aqilina and Alyosha? AQILINA AND ALYOSHA FRICKIN DEMIDOVS?" Shock crossed her face as she looked at him. The twins were like the heroes of Russia.

"Да, тот самый. Акулина и Алеша Демидов" [Yes, the very same Aqilina and Alyosha Demidov] Rick replied back in the most native Russian tone and accent possible.

"When did you start speaking Russian?" She understood it perfectly, but he knew that. He was the victim of many of her Russian rants when she couldn't confess her feelings for him but couldn't keep it locked in either.

"Don't worry, I still don't know what you told me back in high school, this Russian is an effect of having to deal with the twins." He smiled.

"But… but you speak it better than I?"

"Yes but for the life of me, all I remember from your yelling rants was друг[friend], мудак[asshole] and любить[like/love]"

She inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I figured you were ranting about how much you liked Motorcycle Boy and how he acted like a friend but was a complete asshole for not noticing you back then."

Her eyes grew wide. She was relieved he didn't know, but she didn't want him thinking that she was that stuck on Josh. Those rants were for him! Richard Rodgers! Not Joshua Davidson.

"Hey, I'm sorry; don't look so hurt, you had him in the end didn't you? Of course it took him countless conquests of yours, 4inch heels and red streaked hair to look at you, but you had him. Then, you left him 4 months later. But that was the longest you lasted in a relationship after the… the shooting, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" she bit her lip realizing he really had kept at eye on her. Now she wasn't even sure if she should be happy or sad about the fact that he hadn't figured out all the Russian she had ranted at him.

"So how's Will doing?"

She blinked. "Will?"

"Sorenson, how's Agent Sorenson doing?"

She froze in her seat. Her mouth was open in shock as she tried to register the new information. He still kept a tab on her. Hell, he knew her boyfriend.

"Kate?"

"Umm-mm yeah, yeah he's doing good I guess."

"So he's back in New York again hmm?"

_How long has Rick known Will? _

"Yea he just moved back 4 months ago."

"Well, I'm glad to see you both were back together, and this time without the death of any kidnapped child"

Though Kate was sure he meant it in a nice way she could see the way his jaw was clenched and the way his tone seemed to tip over that thin line of bitterness.

_Wait. He knows about the case as well? _

"Yeah, the case hurt really badly, and he was there for me, and you know things just led from thing to another"

"Well, I'm glad, that this time around you let someone in instead of pushing them as far as possible" He had said it under his breath but Kate had caught few of the words, enough to reconstruct the sentence and the bitterness of his tone. She looked down at her glass to look for an excuse and change the topic but noticed it had gone empty. _Shit! When did I finish all that wine? _

Castle silently refilled her glass and she took another sip. "Mmm… Castle, this wine is excellent. Back to the game, my chance now"

He blinked momentarily forgetting their game of 20 questions but nodded to her when his memory came to save the day.

"Currently seeing anyone?"

"Elie Danberg"

He was dating the CIA operative?! Her heart sunk.

"My chance detective, How's Jim coping?"

"He's been sober for five years now, I'm so proud of him. My chance, How did you meet the Demidov Twins?"

"Met them 6 year ago, yes, this was before they became Russian heroes. I was on an undercover SHIELD mission with my S.O. I was only a Rookie back then. They sent me in because I was expendable in their eyes. But I emerged victorious. The mission was to destroy a Private Russian Company's Database which had gained evidence of the existence of SHIELD. SHIELD needed it destroyed to keep its agents and the People belonging to SHIELD Alliance, safe. Loosing one or two agents for the safety of 4000 others was no issue for SHIELD."

"The 2003 Новосибирск[Novosibirsk] bomb."

"Yes. It wasn't intended though. The Master System, which held the files, was rigged with C4 and set on self destruct incase of forced access. We barely got out in time, only facing flying debris, gases, wires and metal pieces." He said this as he unbuttoned his shirt and turned around, pushing the cloth back to reveal the scars he still held from the blast. Oh and the well built muscles. They were literally moving under his skin with every motion of his arms!

The first thought that hit her when she saw the scar was that of anger. She wanted to kill his handler for letting him go in. But at the same time, she had to literally sit on her hands. It was taking every drop of her willpower to keep herself from running a finger over it and kissing it better. _It's been there for six years, a damn kiss won't just make it disappear. Kiss Rodgers? Oh but his skin looks so delicious. Shut up Kate, damn, I shouldn't have had so much wine. _

"So you met the twins after the blast?"

"No, I met them during the mission, to gain access to the mainframe; we had to go in undercover. In the one week I was undercover, I got attached to the twins. Thus when I saw the timer, my first move was to find them and drag them to safety. Anyways, my chance: Best memory?"

"The day before the shooting, you and I fighting with hair spray cans, cream and silly string"

Rick laughed at the memory. "I meant, in the past ten years."

Kate thought for a moment but she just couldn't think of one. _Do I really have no memories worth talking about in the past ten years?_ Finally one came up.

"When I got my move from Vice to Homicide, God I hated Vice"

She noticed Rick's jaw was clenched as if he were trying to tone his anger down. She didn't expect his next words even though she should have.

"I know."

"My chance, what's yours? In the past ten years that is"

"The look on this kid's face, when I told him we knew who his parents were"

"Oh?" It touched Kate that he was able to do that, but she wanted the story.

"Two years ago, our team was asked to investigate an O-8-4 in Utah, Object of Unknown Identity. The O-8-4, happened to be a ten year old child who had been captured shortly after birth and lab tested on by an Organization. He escaped. We don't know how, we suspect that he had help from one of the employees. But we also suspect that this employee is probably already dead. Whatever the Organization did to him- no, I'm sorry the rest is classified. The summary of the story is that, after six months of looking, we finally found his biological parents."

"That's amazing Rick."

He just shrugged. "You say, you are the voice of the dead-" and then added with a wink "-I just try to curb down the number of people you have to voice for"

She smiled knowing only he was capable of putting their jobs down to words like this.

"So, read any of my books?"

"Some of them" She lied and then added, "Why kill off Storm?"

"He got boring. Can I get you some Dessert? "

"Sure, I bet you have a new book out soon"

"Out of inspiration, I have a writer's block. What do you think of them?"

He answered after some hesitation but tried to hide it as he prepared identical sundaes for both of them, still remembering her order to the finest detail.

"They're good. I'm a fan of the genre you see" she says trying to justify her reason for reading his books. Trying to change the topic, she grins digging into her sundae which now waited to be devoured by her.

"How's Alexis? Isn't it her birthday in two days?"

"Yep, my girl's getting big! She's turning 12 this year! And she's-"

Suddenly there's a flash of red and Kate is on the ground with the person who tackled her from the side.

"OH MY GOD! KAT!"

Kate's ready to kill until the moment she hears the nickname Kat. Ofcourse the little red-head would still remember her. "Alexis!" She says suddenly overfilled with joy and excitement but still trying hard to compete with the soon to be twelve year old girl. Rick just grinned, having seen the little redhead sneak-up on Kate while he was answering the question.

* * *

Half an hour later, when the two finally got up, found their seats and calmed down a bit, Alexis bubbled up and hugged Kate for the billionth time that minute.

"Where have you been Kat!"

"Umm… got a little lost Lexi, but I'm here now"

"Good! Because dad here, has driven me insane!"

"Oh? What did he do this time?"

"He's such a kiddd, sometimes; I think I'm the adult here"

"No doubt"

Rick excused himself to go use the washroom. The moment he did, Alexis's behavior took a 180 flip.

"He scares me Kat."

"What did he do?"

"He's so, what's the word, reckess? Reckless, He's so reckless and hateful towards himself. I know he thinks he's doing it when I'm asleep. But I'm not. I hear him at night Kat, and it scares me when he screams at himself. When he does bad things to himself" by now Alexis was tearing up and instinctively Kate pulls her closer, trying to comfort the little girl in her arms. The moment they hear Rick's footsteps, Kate blinks by Alexis's sudden movement and suddenly the little girl is back to the same distance as before, a hardly visible tear trail running down her cheek, and the same excited grin back and plastered across her face. Seeing this, Kate's heart breaks a little more. She couldn't blame Rick for how good Alexis had gotten at hiding her emotions, this was her fault. She broke Rick and indirectly caused Alexis harm.

"So, Lexi, where have you been? I've been here for like-" she looks at her watch, surprised by the time herself. "-like, 10 hours"

"I've been training"

"In what?"

"Tai-chi. 晃姨 is teaching me"

"Huang yi? Who's that?"

"Oh no, it means Aunt Akira in Chinese, I think… she's been teaching me that too"

"Akira… is that Akira Rice?" Kate shot a look at Rick, who confirmed with a nod.

"Wow Lexi, you're learning from the best."

"Oh yes I am!, Fencing with Dad, Chinese, Tai-chi and Kickboxing with 晃姨, тетя Акулина is teaching me Stealth, Russian, and Athletics while Дядя Алеша is teaching me archery and german. Jemma teaches me biology and chemistry and Fitzy just joins in with tit bits of physics. Aunty Serenity and I paint and horse ride together. But, my favorite of all is analysis with Uncle Coll."

Kate raises a brow clearly shocked, mildly disapproving but equally proud and Rick shrugs it off. "Oh, I thought you'd be at a proper school. Didn't know you were being homeschooled or rather, SHIE-" Before she can say it Rick starts shaking his head wildly and cuts her mid sentence. "Ew, Alexis, you're stinking, go change!"

Alexis knew he was trying to get her out of earshot but she complied and left anyways. Once she was out of earshot, Rick let go of the breath he was holding.

"She doesn't know" he explains to Kate.

"Err, how does she not see a 100 people in uniform"

"That is classified"

"How you hide the fact that this is SHIELD, is classified? I think I have a right to know… Whatever happened to me being her godmother?"

"Kate because- … don't make me say something you'll regret hearing later" He says, his jaw clenched and she can see he's furious and that she shouldn't push him. Something in her, tells her that the smartest thing to do is just shut up and nod, so she complies, shuts up and nods.

* * *

Several minutes pass before Kate gets up, picks her plate, cleans it at the sink and Rick does the same before placing all used cutlery where it belongs. They do this in perfect silence. Kate looks down and notices his knuckles white cause of the tight fists he had formed. She berates herself for what she does next but she just can't see him in pain. She slides her hand over his and though he initially flinches a little and is so close to flinging her against the wall due to his damn reflex, he visible calms down and undoes his fists. Visibly relaxing under her touch he pulls a smile on his face, though it doesn't reach his eyes, she smiles and squeezes his hand, glad he's trying at least. Seeing he has calmed down, she tears her hand away from his. "So do I get a tour of this 'pulled right out of a movie' place or no?"

"Pulled right out of a movie?"

"It reminds me of Forbidden Planet, the doctor's place, Star Trek, The Avengers movie?"

"Do you seriously never look at the credits?"

"No…" she says guiltily.

"Well you're right the mainframe center is inspired by Star Trek in some ways but The Avenger's movie was shot here.

"W…wait. What?"

"Welcome to what you would know as the Helicarrier"

"And what is it known as to you?"

"Eagle's Nest"

"So… we aren't in New York City or in the State of New York? Or actually, we aren't even in the United States. Are we?"

"Actually we just took off 10 minutes ago"

"How did I not feel it, and hey how am I going to go back home?"

"You can't"

"Excuse me?"

"There's an assassin waiting for you there. You can't go"

"I can kill him"

"He's not normal"

"Oh?"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you anymore. This information is meant for level three and above agents only. You haven't even joined SHIELD yet."

"Okay, I understand that. How come I never felt the take-off?"

"Dendrotoxin"

"What's that?"

"Classified"

"Ok… Do I at least get a tour of this place? I'm guessing its way larger than my imagination"

"Large enough to hold two runways"

"That's a minimum of 2.5 miles!"

"2.8miles. Come, let's take you around"


End file.
